Demi Moore and Barbara Bach Starkey were feted on Saturday afternoon as the Peggy Albrecht Friendly House held its annual awards luncheon honoring five women who support its mission to provide an environment in which women can recover from drug and alcohol addiction and progress toward healthy families and communities.
The luncheon, held at the Beverly Hilton, presented Moore with the Woman of the Year Award; professional interventionist Dr. Louise Stanger with the Excellence in Service Award; fitness evangelist and motivational coach Angela Davis with the Shining Star Award; and philanthropists Bach Starkey and Marjorie Bach Walsh with the Humanitarian Award. Actress and model Amber Valletta served as host for the event.
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Others in attendance included Melanie Griffith, Joe Walsh of The Eagles, Ringo Starr of The Beatles, Soleil Moon Frye and Moore’s children Rumer Willis, Scout Willis and Tallulah Willis, among others.
“I always struggle with that feeling like, ‘Have I really done enough to be here?’ and there is still so much more to do and to give back. But at the same time you do sometimes have to take pause and allow for acknowledgment just so that you can really take in how far you’ve come to then give you the energy to move forward and to keep doing more,” Moore told The Hollywood Reporter of the honor. “I just love everything about Friendly House and what’s been created for 67 years now. The fact that they present an opportunity for women who don’t have the resources to find recovery I think is incredible.”
Frye, a friend of Moore’s, expressed to THR what made the actress deserving of the Woman of the Year honor: “She is such an incredible woman. She’s a powerhouse. She’s so loving and strong and inspiring and she really shows up. She’s been in every one of my birthday rooms. She has helped deliver every one of my babies, and it takes an incredibly strong woman to be able to do that. She is that strength for me.”
Starr, husband of Bach Starkey, related to THR, “We support the Friendly House and actually, today, I am giving my bride a Humanitarian Award.”
For her part, Bach Starkey said, “We have a foundation, The Lotus Foundation, that does charitable work and we’ve had it since 1998. It started in the U.K., where we lived, and [we] brought it over here and we’ve been here a little over three years. Through that foundation, we work with other charitable causes and amazing people.”
Dr. Stanger spoke to THR about what it meant to receive the acknowledgment from Friendly House. “This is an organization that has changed the trajectory of women and recovery for the past 67 years. As a clinician, former professor, author and writer, I can think of no higher accolade than to be honored by Peggy Albrecht Friendly House. I’m deeply touched to represent the treatment community and the recovery community today to celebrate this wonderful institution,” she said. “These are treatment centers for women only. Women whose lives have gone down a river of despair and they’re there to reclaim and rewrite their stories and what they call their alumni are ‘grateful hearts.’”
